Capriles won’t accept presidential result until “every vote is recounted, one by one”

Denouncing election irregularities, Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski demanded a recount and said early Monday that he will not recognize the country's presidential results ”until every vote is counted”. His comments came less than an hour after officials said the man former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez handpicked to be his successor had won the country's presidential vote.

With 99% of votes counted, Nicolas Maduro won 50.66% of votes, National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena said, calling the results irreversible. Capriles won 49.07% of votes, she said.

“We are not going to recognize the result until there is a recount to the last vote of the Venezuelans, one by one. We demand that the National Electoral Council, CNE, opens all ballot boxes and each vote counted” said Capriles during a press conference.

“I am a convinced democrat, a fighter and have always respected the will of our people. The people today spoke and that result is not reflected in the will of the people. That is the truth about Venezuela, and I want truth to be known, so Mr. Maduro, if before you were illegitimate, you’re more than loaded with illegitimacy now”, warned Capriles.

“We demand an audit, vote by vote. The difference is too small”. He added that ‘if you add all the incidences and overseas votes, and in some voting places, we’re talking of 300.000 votes that have been affected (by irregularities) besides other vices such as groups bullying voters, so if we add up the whole list, we’re talking of a different process”.

Capriles added that “our intention has been distorted” and underlined, “I don’t negotiate and I don’t make deals with nobody, and I’m saying this to you on the strongest terms. The results announced do not reflect the reality of what the Venezuelan people want and aspires for this country”

“I’m going to do everything possible so that this country changes. If before I was encouraged to fight, today you gentlemen of the government are giving me even more will to continue this fight”.

Capriles said that “today we fought against the use of all public resources, the abuse of institutions, of everything that means power, and I’m telling you very strongly that this fight is not over. This fight will end the day Venezuela is prosperous”.

The opposition candidate made special mention and thanked the over million votes from the government’s party that supported Capriles. This shows what is going on in Venezuela, that the country is waiting for a reply. We must set free the political prisoners, improve salaries, we must take measures that benefit the people, we must turn around this package of nonsensical measures. The people has spoken with conviction”.

Addressing the Electoral council Capriles said that “peace in the country and the future of Venezuela lies in the fact that truth is known. I hope you will choose the door you wish to exit. I sincerely hope you give us the chance to know the real truth”.

Finally in direct reference to Maduro, “I’m telling the candidate. You are the defeated here, today; you and your government, and I’m saying so with the outmost strength.”

Fireworks erupted over Caracas as Maduro spoke to cheering supporters, calling on Venezuelans to respect the results and respond peacefully.

I have won by nearly 300,000 votes. It is the decision of the people, he said.

Far beyond Venezuela's borders, voters lined up at diplomatic offices around the world.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council says that more than 100,000 Venezuelans are registered to vote abroad at diplomatic offices in 88 countries. There are more than 37,681 Venezuelans registered to vote in the United States, according to government figures.

In addition to representatives from national organizations serving as observers, Venezuela's National Electoral Council says 170 foreigners have been invited to witness the elections in Venezuela. The international group includes delegations from the Union of South American Nations and the Atlanta-based Carter Center.

Authorities detained 43 people Sunday for alleged electoral crimes, Maj. Gen. Wilmer Barrientos told reporters. But elections officials said Sunday evening that the day had proceeded smoothly without major incidents.

It has developed with total normalcy, with total calmness, said Sandra Oblitas of the National Electoral Council.

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Capriles is just a wrecker, Maduro won, the Venezuelan electoral system is the fairest in the world according to the Carter Centre, and if he was a mature candidate Capriles should be glad to have won as many votes as he has, proof that Venezuelan democracy is robust and the government has nothing to hide. I predict once he establishes his own presence as a great leader and fighter, Maduro will have a much greater majority at the next election...

Maduro now has to preside over a crippled economy that can't afford to continue with Chavez's version of socialism. He has to do this with no clear mandate to run the country and a questionable electoral victory.

Capriles can't see the forest through the trees. Chubby mismanaged the country so massively, the venezuela is a a clogged toilet. Maduro is holding the plunger and the pressure is building. Maybe 18 months before the shit hit's Maduro's face.

#8 Chris R This is from the Carter Center Press release page, www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/index.html
At the invitation of Venezuela's National Election Council, The Carter Center will send a small delegation to accompany the Venezuelan people during the April 14 presidential election.
The delegation includes former Panamanian President Martín Torrijos; former Colombian Governor Horacio Serpa; former Costa Rican Ombudsman Rodrigo Alberto Carazo; Carter Center Americas Program Director Jennifer McCoy; Carter Center representative in Venezuela Héctor Vanolli, and Carter Center Associate Director of the Americas Program Marcelo Varela.

Are you saying that The Carter Center is lying about their activities?
What proof do you have to backup your claim :as quoted below:
You DF. The Carter Centre NEVER even visited Venezuela and did everything as a paper exercise and the other ‘Observer’ cleared it before the voting had even begun.?

April 8, 2013
Carter Center To Send Delegation to April 14 Venezuelan Presidential Election (En español)
At the invitation of Venezuela's National Election Council, The Carter Center will send a small delegation to accompany the Venezuelan people during the April 14 presidential election.

Agreed.

Now, tell me what they were SUPPOSED to do, m(by accompanying the Venezuelan people?

AND

WHAT they actually did. Hold hands? Got drunk?

I will await the final report before jumping to any conclusion.

Please re-read the second sentence of my post @8.

Did either of you read this:

April 4, 2013
The Carter Center Finds Kenya Election Results Reflect Will of Voters
The Carter Center finds that in spite of serious shortcomings in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission's (IEBC) management of technology and tabulation of final election results, the paper-based procedure for counting and tallying presented enough guarantees to preserve the expression of the will of Kenyan voters.

That’s a stunning conclusion when considered against the statement in the first part of the paragraph.

No wonder the original President and his supporters were pissed off. But unlike the bus driver who I firmly believe will result to violence if he is chucked out, the ousted Kenyan candidate decided for the peace of the nation to accept the count.

the Venezuelan electoral system is the fairest in the world according to the Carter Centre

I see this repeated a lot. Can anyone actually attribute this to an actual quote or conclusion.

Or is it a meme? Repeat enough online and it becomes fact for simpletons.

People need to learn the difference between electoral mechanisms that work such as holding the actual ballot and the entire electoral system including media access, intimidation, an independent judiciary and use of state resources by the incumbent.

Venezuela may be a 'democracy' according to the first but no one could ever claim it is a 'democracy' according to the second.

Jimmy Carter is a fool, he almost ruined the USA while he was Prez, created the problems we now have in Mid East and has made himself into the Great Apologizer. I won't miss him when he and Carter 2 are gone.
It can't come soon enough for me.

The only thing missing from that farce of an election was Sean Penn.

I hear demonstrations are already starting.

Where oh where is my burning tire?
I must have left it in BA when I moved.

So I would have to assume that British_Kirchnerist's claim that “the Venezuelan electoral system is the fairest in the world according to the Carter Centre” is indeed a meme as no one has ever proven this quote on here or on The Economist website where it too is currently being repeated.

@23 Stevie
You consider USA as a democracy?

That is a loaded question simply because you and I have radically different ideas on what constitutes a democracy. I guarantee that you don't see it as a democracy which speaks loads about your viewpoint.

However, I will claim that my country's version of democracy is superior to the US version and all countries in Latin America - though Chile comes close, Venezuela is not even in the same league.

Capriles lost again, even in the US they don't even bother to mention the elections in Venezuela. They are to busy trying with gay marriage, who are behind the explosions in Boston (they know, and want more TSA and they want them in malls, all sport events and they want to take away the guns, not going to happen the last one..but the agenda is clear oh and don't pay attention to Cyprus which has become a blueprint for future bailouts).

Sad for Venezuela to throw away this chance to shake off all the leftist rubbish from the country, but I don´t think that this blend of pig with ape (Maduro) will be able to recognize the right to recount the votes. So, until now Venezuela has no legitimate president.

@5 British_Kirchnerist
Don't be an idiot, you may be a devotee of corrupt socialism but the Venezuelan electoral system is rigged and everyone in Venezuela knows it. The ex director of the national electoral council Ana Mercedes Díaz has clearly explained how the fraud was perpetrated. For a start in the last 10 years the population has grown 14% but the electoral register has grown 58% and it has NEVER been audited, there are over 1.5 million voters who do not have fingerprints attached to their register as is required by law. These are probably deceased people or other fakes. In the election there were 9,000 voting centers where ONLY ONE voting table was present. Only voting for Maduro was possible (instead of two voting tables one for Capriles and one for Maduro there was only 1 and it was for Maduro) This means 20% of voting centers, totally outrageous! PLUS 540 voting centers weren't only not monitored BUT had NO access, NO ONE could enter, who the hell knows what shenanigans went on in there, not even the Maduro supporters could enter. In summing up the Cuban guy arrested by the police carrying 40 different ID's of himself sums it up just fine....... Finally even though it was a total farce it's in Chile's interest for this turd Maduro to win so CONGRATULATIONS BK.

43
A voting centre where nobody had access... You expect to convince people that they set up a voting centre only to deny access to the voters, and this with a hidden agenda?
That is such a ridiculous statement, I don't even know why I bother responding to it...

If a president against the interests of the US wins he's a dictator, if a candidate that supports US interests loses it's fraud. It would be funny if it wasn't sad. For the people of the US, I have just one thing to say: FLORIDA

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